Fear
''' Fear''' Fear is the fifth and penultimate installment of Michael Grant's Gone series. It was originally entitled Darkness, but the word was too long to fit on the cover. The US cover has been publicly released and includes Quinn and Diana on the front, with Sam and Dekka on the back, a fact that has been confirmed by the author. It has been said that Fear was released on April 3, 2012. Teaser extract from the second Scene in Fear: "She wore denim jeans and a plaid flannel shirt over a black T-shirt several sizes too big. A leather belt made two turns around her waist. It was a man’s belt, and a big man at that. But it was sturdy and bore the weight of the .38 revolver, the machete, and her water bottle. Her backpack was dirty and the seams were all frayed, but it sat comfortably on her thin shoulders. In the pack she had three precious vacuum packs of dehydrated macaroni liberated from distant campsites. Just add water. She also had most of a cooked pigeon in a Tupperware container, a dozen wild green onions, a bottle of vitamins – she allowed herself one every three days – as well as pencil and paper, three books, a small bag of pot and a little pipe, needle and thread, two Bic lighters, and a spare water bottle. There was also a medicine pouch: a few Band-Aids, a mostly used tube of Neosporin and a dozen precious Tylenol, and infinitely more precious tampons. Astrid Ellison had changed." Synopsis The book starts out revealing a look at the outside world. Connie Temple reflects on when she "poofed" out of the FAYZ. Later, Quinn and his fishing crew discover a black stain creeping up the side of the barrier. Astrid has also seen the stain and is going back to Lake Tramonto to warn Sam, after which, they sleep together. Back in Perdido Beach, Caine is deciding what to do with Cigar after finding out Cigar unknowingly murdered another kid. Caine has established a system of court: disrespecting him will lead to a fine, stealing will lead to a temproary imprisonment, and worse crimes result in being tortured by Penny's horrifying visons, or worse, death. Caine doesn't want to start a fight with Quinn by killing a member of his crew, so he sentences Cigar to endure a whole day with Penny. Later, Quinn checks up on Cigar and discovers he ripped out his eyes to escape from the visions. Quinn is horrified and takes him to Lana. She is able to heal part of his eyes, letting them grow back to marble size. Only now he sees in different colors depending on a person's character and can also spot the gaiaphage attempting to touch Lana's mind. Soon after, the book shows a part from Little Pete's mind. He has become bored since he no longer has a "game" to play with the gaiaphage, or a body to weigh him down, so he "reaches" out and touches other "avatars" (kids in the FAYZ). It is later shown that his touch destroys their bodies. He's able to see the DNA of kids in the FAYZ. When he realized his touch killed people, he tried changing the DNA instead, which resulted in Taylor not being able to teleport correctly (fusing into random objects and only teleporting part of her body, which nearly kills her), making her skin gold, and turning her into a reptile which Lana cannot heal. Back at Lake Tramonto, Sam sets off with Dekka, Jack, and Brianna to secure the container of missiles down by the beach. Sam checks and finds out that not only are all except one of the missiles gone, but the remaining missile is booby trapped. They activate the trap safely so no one can get hurt. Sam suspects Caine of taking them. Astrid arrives with the news of the stain, which by now almost everyone knows of. She waits in Sam's room for him to come back and finds her old nightgown. Once Sam comes back from trying to retrieve the missiles, he meets Astrid again. They kiss and make love. Later, Edilio, Sam, Astrid and Dekka attempt to measure its growth, but are unsuccessful due to its fast acceleration. Quinn is protesting that Penny is an unfair way to punish kids and wants her killed. Until then he and his crews sit strike. Albert attempts to negotiate with Caine about the situation. Caine goes to Penny and trys to work a deal out, but she drugs him. Sam trys to prepare for when the barrier goes completely dark but knows that his plan is likely to fail. The Gaiaphage commands Drake to bring him Diana. Drake sets off to find her, but is distracted with Howard. He chokes Howard to death. Mohamed, a boy who had set out to deliever Sam's note containing his plans for when the black stain engulfed the FAYZ wall to Caine, notices Drake and runs off to warn them. They go into lock down, and Sam sends Brianna off to find Drake, but instructs her not to fight. Drake finds out she is looking for him and hides. Later, Caine wakes up and finds his hands plastered in concrete. In the middle of the night, after she and Sam make love a second time, Astrid grabs the note and is ready to bring it to Caine, although tempted to just stay in bed with Sam. However, Dekka catches her. Astrid gags and bounds Dekka, but Dekka agrees to not tell for a little while after being convinced by Astrid. Astrid makes it out into the forest and sets out for PB. Sam is furious when he discovers she ran away. Dekka and Sam argue wether it is safe to send Brianna off after her, and eventually agree it is best to just let her bring the note. Meanwhile, Albert takes 3 girls with him to the island, seeing that is the only way to live once the barrier is completely black. Albert has stolen the missles to defend the island from kids who he suspects will try and reach the island. Caine's hands are encased in concrete and Penny has stappled a crown to his head. She drags him to where his part of town meets and makes him dance in front of the crowd. Kids try and step in for Caine, but Penny tortures them with her visions. Soon, Lana knows that if she doesn't step in and intervene in the pandemonium, kids will start to die. So she tells Penny to leave Caine alone, threatening to shoot her if she doesn't walk away. Penny laughs it off and turns her visions on Lana, but Lana is immune to them due to her time with the Gaiaphage. Penny leaves, and Lana grants temporary control of PB to Quinn while Caine recovers. She sends Sanjit with a note for Sam saying that Diana is in danger because the Gaiaphage wants her baby. Back at Lake Tramonto, Drake threatens to drown Justin unless Diana goes into the boat he wants her in. She agrees, but her and Justin are rowed out to the lake. Drake, Diana and Justin run into Jack, but only Jack is there is time to attempt to rescue her and Justin. Drake whips Jack and Jack is bleeding to death before Sam and Dekka bring him back to the boat and Roger, whom Edilio is dating, sews up his neck. It is not said wether or not Jack lives. Sam is angry because Brianna is supposed to be on guard for things like this, and he doesn't know where she is. Brianna is out hunting Drake, unaware that he has Diana and Justin and is taking them to the Gaiaphage. The dark stain has almost completely engulfed the barrier, leaving only a ring of light at the very top. Sam begins to light Sammy Suns on his boats. In PB the light a giant bonfire and tell kids to remain calm. While Dekka is out searching for Brianna, Brianna runs into her. Brianna doesn't understand why Dekka won't talk to her and they fight over it until Dekka starts to punch Brianna. She backs off and Brianna feels bad, so she apologizes, saying "I'm only a kid." Dekka realizes she shouldn't feel the way she does about Brianna because Brianna is only a kid. Brianna also says she doesn't have any serious feelings towards Jack. They make up, and set out to find and kill Drake and then rescue Diana. Brianna catches up with Drake and Diana, and triess to slow them down so that Dekka can reach them and they can fight. However, Penny runs into them and turns her visions on Brianna, and then teams up with Drake and follows him to see the Gaiaphage. Penny also gives her visions to Dekka. Then the barrier is completely dark and no one can see anything, and large groups of kids set off in the dark to reach Lake Tramonto. Dekka never reaches Brianna because she can not see. Brianna can't run because she might trip and break all of her bones. So she slowly travles to the mine entrance. Once she arrives, she shoots Brittney and shoots Penny's shoulder. Diana is having her baby, and Brianna delivers it. The baby heals Penny, and then brainwashes Brianna into believing the Gaiaphage is a crib and Brianna lays the baby onto the Gaiaphage. Diana names the baby Gaia, and it is a girl. Brianna runs back to Justin and starts making her way to PB to find Sam. Dekka runs into Orc and they both head back to PB too. Diana is trapped with Drake and Penny and the Gaiaphage. The Gaiaphage is now Gaia, and Diana can not bring herself to murder her baby. They set out back to PB, following Gaia's instructions. Caine, Lana, Sam, and Quinn team up to kill the Gaiaphage, waiting at PB, hidden. Sam finds Astrid and tells her to run away back to town so she won't get hurt. Once they arrive Penny stuns Sam and Caine with her visions, and they get away to the barrier's edge. Gaia sees that Sam is trying to kill them, so she stretches Sam out until he is almost dead. Caine throws a rock at the baby and Sam is freed. But the baby smashes Caine against the barrier and Penny tortures Sam. But Sam burns Penny, and then burns Gaia, thus releasing Caine. Caine kills Penny, but Gaia isn't killed. Meanwhile, a nuclear explosion goes off below the FAYZ wall. The wall aborbs the energy and is strengthened, stopping it from coming down. Instead, the wall becomes transparent. The people on the outside are watching as Sam is thrown into the air by Gaia. He shoots Gaia with his powers and she drops him, but Dekka has just arrives and uses her powers to catch Sam. Sam burns Gaia, but she gets away. The people on the outside are stunned, watching Sam burn Gaia and seeing dead Penny. Brianna can see now so she zooms back to town and poses for the people, which breaks the tension for Sam, Astrid, Caine, Dekka and Quinn, who turn to go back to town, since Gaia, Diana, and Drake are leaving and heading back to the desert. Facts It was originally titled Darkness, but the name wouldn't fit on the front cover, so it was changed to Fear. On the US cover are (confirmed by Michael Grant on facebook) Quinn and Diana (Front), Dekka and Sam (Back). The UK cover will be purple and black. Fear's release date was on for April 3, 2012, although it had received an early UK release. The sequel to Fear is Light, the final installment of the Gone series. List of Deaths *Bonnie *Cigar *Francis *Howard Bassem *Jonesie *Keira *Mary Terrafino *Mason *Penny *Tabitha *Many unnamed kids, during the attack by the coyotes and the fires started in desperation because of the darkness *(Michael Grant said that Jack would live) Category:Real World Category:Books